Happy Trails….

Day 81/82 – Sunday/Monday, September 1/2

We travelled the Yellowhead Highway to Smithers, BC  for our final caravan stop.  The scenery changed once again…we are now seeing farmland, cows and horses, with mountains and glaciers in the background… just wonderful scenes.  

It’s hard to believe that Alaska is behind us and that 48 caravan days have gone by.  Everyone made it and we celebrated with a Farewell Dinner at the Harbor Club in Smithers.   Everyone shared their thoughts on what they liked the most about the trip.  There were songs, poems, roasts, tears and a group sing-along of “Happy Trails”.  I don’t think there could be a more enjoyable group of people—there was a great camaraderie developed over the past many weeks. There are already plans for a reunion.

We joined together for a final campfire to close out the evening.  The sky was gorgeous…finally dark, and clear, and full of stars.  We were hoping for a glimpse of the northern lights.  I stayed up most of the night, but never did get a glimpse of the fabulous lights.  I did enjoy the cool night and beautiful skies.  I tried to identify as many constellations as I could using the nifty Starwalk app on my phone, but there were so many stars, it was hard to sort them out.  About 3am the fog rolled in, and that was it for the night.

There were some in the caravan that found time to do a little trickery on Dean from Michigan, one of the colorful characters on the trip.  His Jeep got teepeed the final night!  That got a good laugh this morning, along with a lot of finger pointing.  Everyone thought it was Jim, but he was NOT involved!! 

We had a Going Away breakfast this morning, with everyone giving more hugs, good wishes and promises to keep in touch and to get together once again.  I think our Wagon Masters and Tail Gunners are looking forward to some much deserved rest! 

Many have plans to continue the adventure in different forms—trips along the coast, back to national parks, etc.   We followed our Texas friends, Patrick, Bernadette and Leisel down the road for awhile—we pulled over for a break, and later, as we passed them, they were on the side of the road all waving at us…wish we would have gotten a picture!
We also came across a herd of cattle crossing the road…I guess that’s really telling us “Happy Trails!”

We made it to Quesnel, BC, about a 300 mile drive.  As we traveled today, we realized how remote we’ve been, because we are now seeing traffic, and stores, and grass, and people.  Just a few days ago, we could drive for miles, and often rarely see another car, and certainly not a store!  It feels pretty good to be back in civilization!   We stopped for the night at Robert’s Roost, an RV Park in Quesnel, right on Dragon Lake.  It is nice and peaceful, and we’ll be able to enjoy some relaxation before an early start tomorrow for a 400 mile drive to get back into the lower 48! 

We traveled 7,575 miles from leaving Indy, to our final stop at Smithers!  Our trip of a lifetime was certainly all that we thought it would be---and MORE!  We never dreamed we would have experienced all of the adventures that we’ve taken in.  We enjoyed it so much, we’ve already signed up for a 48 day trip to the Maritimes in the summer of 2015! 

We plan to continue to head south, down the Oregon coast, and then will decide which route we’ll take from there.   The Lundcruiser Adventure will continue until we return to Indy on October 1st….gosh, there are 28 more days to go!!!